EATING OUT: AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF FOOD FOR THE POOR AND THE FOOD INSECURE

Food consumption behaviors in food secure and food insecure households are compared. A two-stage budgeting and a double-hurdle model are used in the estimation. The results of the paper show that both food away from home and food at home are normal goods for both food secure and food insecure households. However, the effects of family structure on food consumption differ for the two household types. For food secure households, having one more child or one more working family member results in a larger marginal increase in food consumption than that for food insecure households. In addition, households with married heads of household are more likely to eat out in food secure households but less likely to eat out in food insecure households compared to households with unmarried heads of household.